Immunity offers a portable hacking device for penetration testing
Nokia 770 tablet device is intended for companies to conduct their own white hat operations; tester turns on the $3,600 device, sticks it in his pocket, and waits to see whether his local wireless network is exploitable
While the jury is still out on whether Daniel Craig makes a good James Bond, a new device that will sure be on Q’s next shopping list has been released. The Silica — a Nokia 770 Internet Tablet that runs a Debian/Linux 2.6.16 kernel — is portable hacking device that scans for open ports on wireless networks and then automatically exploits them. Once on a network, the Silica can search through the files of any computer that has open ports on the network and swiftly download them onto its hard drive.
Manufactured by Miami Beach, Florida-based Immunity, the Silica is intended for companies interested in conducting their own penetration tests — white hat operations in which friendly employees or contractors simulate an attempt to exploit the system. “We wanted to make it touch screen, so you can actually use a stylus, launch a scan in attack mode, then stick it in your pocket while you run your exploits,” the company’s Justine Aitel explained. “It’s aimed at the non-technical user interested in doing drive-by penetration tests. You start it, run a scan, connect, run your exploit, get an HTML report of what was done.”
Immunity currently sells only a Nokia version (price: $3,600) but says the PDA can change based on customer preference. Nevertheless, due to the wide range of applications for this product, Immunity will not sell it to just anyone. “We make a fair effort to vet buyers and know where the money is coming from and who we’re shipping to…[but] it could be some guy working at Cisco, ordering Silica to give to his criminal friend,” said Aitel.
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